EB Watch List Update Report

Dear Members: MARKET NOTE: Traders remain in a good mood this morning as we begin a new trading day and week. The move higher coincides with a historically bullish time of the year. One thing that has not changed today; the Dow remains extremely overbought; traders can't get enough of blue chip stocks. But we can see that it's getting harder to get a major advancement; makes sense. Also this morning, the NASDAQ is showing nice strength as it tries to match the most recent all time high of 5486. The VIX is lower by over 2%; it's failed to clear its 20 day moving average over the past week, which favors the bulls. We need to keep in mind that Wall Street has a lot of incentive to keep the market higher into year end. First, money managers want to show their clients they were involved in some of the best performing stocks of the year. Next, those all important bonuses are connected to performance. Also, a growing number of investors are hoping for more favorable tax rates next year, making the case that it makes sense to book profits next year instead of year end. All of this making it difficult for a major pullback even if it gets harder to tack on serious gains with a stretched market. For sure the quest for 20,000 is a year end goal for the bulls. It's just another milestone but the market tends to get excited when key levels are in sight. But let's not get caught off guard; things can change quickly. So to me looking at high reward to risk opportunities on individual stocks is fine; just don't want to go overboard here in case the market takes a quick turn out of nowhere. For now we can use 2277 as key resistance on the S&P and 2250 as first level of support on any pullback. KEY EARNINGS REPORTS Companies reporting earnings today (December 19) include: LEN Companies reporting earnings tomorrow (December 20) include: BB.TO, KMX, CCL, DRI, FDX, GIS, NAV, NKE and SCS ADDITIONS TO WATCH LISTS: We added HLX to the Watch List today. More information on the stock below. BRIEF COMMENTS ON SELECT WATCH LIST STOCKS: SHORTS: LZB - Stock hit its stop loss of $32.85 today so will be removed from the Watch list. LONGS: Large Cap Watch List None at this time Mid Cap Watch List None at this time Small Cap Watch List HLX - Stock was added today at an entry price of $9.89 with a price target of $11.15 and a stop of an Intra Day price of $9.46. DELETIONS FROM OUR WATCH LISTS: We are removing LZB from the Watch List At your service, John Hopkins EarningsBeats